Matjet,
My experience is mostly consistent with Stanwal's original answer, that it depends on the synergy of the system. I think having a good shop that will work with you is the most important thing to arriving at a satisfying system. I'll share some of my experiences and maybe it'll be helpful:
- A few years ago I got a good deal on a WattGate audio grade outlet. Installed it and didn't give it another thought. Several months later we were selling that house so I took it out and reinstalled the regular outlet. Listening to the system subsequently I realized that it wasn't quite as extended or liquid as before. I invited the owners of the shop over a few days later and A/B'd the outlet and they noted that the soundstage was more balanced with the WattGate. I had just gotten the thing because it was a good deal on it, and I had heard that Kimber said it was a very important link in the chain. I was skeptical, but figured there would be no harm in getting it.
- Here's why a shop that will work with you is so important. My shop here expects that you will audition cables at the high-end level before buying. One night they let me take some cables home and keep them for a week or so while I was building my system. As I was driving home I did the math and realized that I had a big box in the back seat of my car with about $15k worth of speaker wire. There was probably about another $3k in interconnects. My system is such that it will resolve the differences, and in many cases differences were immediately apparent, but in all auditions I listened to the cables long enough to understand what each was doing in the system.
- It ended up taking me several months to get my system dialed-in. I tested a lot of cables and rolled a lot of tubes. And that was another thing, the guys at the shop let me bring home RCA, Tung Sol, Telefunken, Mullard, Amperex, and Sylvania tubes with which to experiment while I was auditioning different cables as well. But in each case I trusted my ears. Period.
- I didn't experiment with power cords. My instinct was that without clean power, there was no point in anything else. I have a dedicated line, audio grade outlet, power conditioners, and Kimber PK10 Gold power cords throughout. I figured that was good enough and I spent my time tuning elsewhere.
- Interconnects: I tested Kimber Timbre, Hero, and Select; a couple of Cardas; and vintage Audio Magic Sorcerer silver ribbon. I went with the Select although it could have been a coin toss between it and the Sorcerer.
- I have been helping a friend assemble his new system. We have the same CD player. On his system audible differences between the interconnects I described were much more noticable than on mine. I didn't expect that, but learned something.
Anyway, I really like the way my system worked out, but it took a lot of effort and a shop that let me audition a lot of stuff to find the right symmetry for my ears.
